Tag: writing

The interim frameworks are to support teachers in making robust and accurate judgements for pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2017. The interim teacher assessment frameworks are for 2016 to 2017 only. The Department for Education is evaluating options for future years.

We understand that consistent writing moderation is a challenge. That’s why we’ve worked with Shareen Mayers – primary teacher, English Consultant and certified KS2 Writing Moderator – to create this FREE Guide to KS2 Writing Moderation to support schools through every step of the process.

The guide includes support with:

best practice for writing moderation

preparing for a moderation visit

spelling and word lists

making judgements about children’s writing.

It also includes practical top tips and key information about writing moderation.

In the first evidence session, held in December 2016, the Committee heard from teachers on the impact of primary assessment on teaching, learning and well being.

The second evidence session, held on 18th January 2017, focused on accountability measures, including the reliability of data, and the impact of assessment, as well as the design of the new tests and potential alternative assessment systems.

Achievements of pupils in state-funded primary schools in England have now been published.

Just 5 per cent of primary schools have been announced as being below the floor standard. Schools are considered under-performing if fewer than 65 per cent of pupils fail to reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, or if they fail to make sufficient progress in these three key areas.

This year’s key stage 2 results paint a national picture of schools struggling to deal with the demands of a tough new curriculum. Just 53 per cent of 11-year-olds reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in 2016, a drop from 80 per cent in 2015. But the performance tables reveal that some primaries are coping with the challenge better than others. Continue reading →

From today, (September 1st 2016) primary schools will be able to access and check their own provisional progress data. The Department for Education has also released further information on progress thresholds, writing assessment points and pupils below the standard of the test, which we’ve summarised below.

Head teachers will have been frantically logging on to the DfE website today to find out how their schools have done in the new progress measures following this summer’s new KS2 tests – even though many schools still haven’t started the new term yet! It’s left many of us unprepared, and probably many more scrabbling around for the key login details.

Getting your school’s data

Head teachers will have been sent login details for the Tables Checking website, including a password which was sent out by post last week. For schools whose post is held by the Royal Mail over the holidays, that may now mean an anxious wait. There is a helpline and email address on the Tables Checking site for those who can’t hang on for the postman!

Once logged in, you will be able to complete a data checking exercise, as in previous years, to ensure that data is accurate before it goes into the final version of Raise Online. You’ll also be able to see your school’s progress measures for each of the three key subjects: Reading, Writing and Maths. These scores are all-important for the new floor standard – particularly for the majority of schools who did not reach the 65% attainment thresholds.

These figures are simple numbers, roughly in the range of -10 to 10. A score of 0 in any given subject means that children at your school – on average – made the same progress as others of a similar ability nationally in that subject. Positive scores suggest your children did better than the average nationally, and negative scores suggest that progress was not as good as the national average. Importantly, negative scores do not necessarily mean that your school is in trouble. Continue reading →

Key stage 2 SATs are over for another year. Individual children’s results have been known for a couple of months now thanks to NCA Tools and consequently we know the percentages of our cohorts that met the expected standard for Year 6. When the DfE publish the school performance tables in December 2016, we’ll know a little more about how we’ve done.

The headline measures of performance remain: attainment, progress and therefore whether or not the floor standard has been met. In addition to the attainment data that we already know, we’ll see the proportion of children that attained the higher standard, which consists of scaled scores of 110+ in reading and maths and a greater depth judgement in writing. The much talked about progress measure (comparing individual children’s progress against the average progress made by children nationally with similar starting points) will arrive too. Our cohort’s average progress will be the overall progress measure for our school. Then, of course, these measures are used to judge whether or not we have met the floor target. With just 53% of pupils nationally attaining the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, and national average scaled scores of 103 for reading and maths, many leaders will be waiting on that progress data… Continue reading →